Networked rendering devices can interact with an assemblage of other rendering devices, client devices, servers, and other components that are connected to and communicate over a network. One example of a rendering device is a MFD (Multi-Function Device), which includes the functionality of multiple rendering devices such as printers, scanners, faxes, copy machines, and so forth. Each MFD in a network, for example, can include a variety print capabilities options such as finishing, media quality, supply levels, and size.
Organizations such as, for example, business enterprises, educational institutions, government agencies, and medical offices often experience large expenditures relating to the rendering of paper documents and the difficulty in controlling the flow of information with respect to rendered (e.g., printed, scanned, copied) documents. The cost associated with rendering devices can be significantly high, especially for color printing, and it may therefore be extremely beneficial to track the usage of the rendering device resource so that the cost associated therewith may be determined for accounting purpose.
With the proliferation of color rendering devices, a managed rendering service provider deploys an output management solution for governing the use of the rendering document with respect to a customer. Output management solution monitors and manages an output volume of the networked rendering devices in order to optimize the device allocation to reduce output costs, streamline report creation, and lower paper wastage. Such output management solutions must be managed correctly when deployed as part of a managed services agreement in order to ensure cost effective print governance.
One example of print governance and rules and policies thereof is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0037996 which published to Matthew DeRoller on Feb. 17, 2011 and is entitled “Method and System for Automatically Creating Print Governance Rules and Polices.” U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0037996, which is assigned to the Xerox Corporation of Norwalk, Conn., U.S.A. is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Another example of print governance is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0195138, which published to Matthew DeRoller on Aug. 5, 2010 and is entitled “Method and System for Tracking Data Based on Governance Rules and Policies.” U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0195138, which is also assigned to the Xerox Corporation of Norwalk, Conn., U.S.A. is also incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
A print governance application thus typically monitors a print request and enforces a business rule in order to maximize the rendering efficiency by reducing consumables such as, for example, toner and paper, and redirects the rendering job to more cost effective rendering device. Conventional output management solutions typically employ an agent installed on a rendering server and a data-processing system to control high-performance print volumes and cost associated with the rendering devices. Such approaches, however, do not provide effective print governance and are time consuming, labor intensive and inaccurate which can result in missed cost savings.
Based on the foregoing, it is believed that a need exists for an improved method and system for automatically selecting a most accurate job tracking source, as will be described in greater detail herein.